Voice Communications

Today, voice is typically an application running on IP-based networks, and increasingly it is a component of other applications that businesses and consumers use in their daily lives.  Yet voice services are subject to a broad range of regulations at the federal and state levels.  These include registration and licensing requirements at the federal and state level, access to telephone numbers and number portability, robocall regulations, privacy protections, regulatory fees, universal service contribution and surcharge requirements, and 9–1–1 and 9–8–8 calling requirements.  Legacy voice services remain subject to an even broader range of regulations at the federal and state levels. 

WBK attorneys have honed their instincts over many years spent advising clients and serving at the highest levels of the FCC, state PUCs, and other governmental institutions. The firm has worked on these issues since the wake of the AT&T divestiture and today represents a diverse range of voice service providers, ranging from voice over internet protocol (VoIP) providers and cutting-edge technology companies that build voice capabilities into other applications to more traditional wireline and wireless telephone providers.   

We work with our clients to determine whether and to what extent regulatory requirements apply to new service offerings, advocate in rulemaking proceedings as rules evolve, and navigate these regulatory requirements.  We work extensively in proceedings on network interconnection, telephone numbering, number portability, intercarrier compensation, pricing of business data services, and forbearance requests involving legacy telephony requirements.  WBK attorneys have worked on every major universal service rulemaking going back to the origins of the modern universal service program in 1997.  We pride ourselves on fusing our deep knowledge of the law and regulations with an understanding of the economics and technology of voice services and the networks used to provide them.